April 18, 2007

Disgusting...and wait lines for health clinics and hospitals are worse than ever

VANCOUVER, April 16 /CNW/ - The average Canadian family spends more moneyon taxes than on necessities of life such as food, clothing, and housing,according to a study from The Fraser Institute, an independent researchorganization with offices across Canada.

The Canadian Consumer Tax Index, 2007, shows that even though the incomeof the average Canadian family has increased significantly since 1961, theirtotal tax bill has increased at a much higher rate.

<< - In 1961, the average Canadian family earned an income of $5,000 and paid $1,675 in total taxes - 33.5 per cent of its income.

- In 2006, the average Canadian family earned an income of $63,001 and paid total taxes equaling $28,311 - 44.9 per cent of its income. >>

"The tax burden we face is made up of much more than just income tax.When you add up all the taxes we have to pay to all levels of government, theaverage Canadian family is paying more of its income to governments in theform of taxes than they spend feeding, clothing and housing themselves," saidNiels Veldhuis, the study's co-author and Director of the Centre for TaxStudies with the Fraser Institute.

The Canadian Consumer Tax Index calculates the total tax bill of theaverage Canadian family by adding up the various taxes that the family pays tofederal, provincial, and local governments. These include direct taxes such asincome taxes, sales taxes, Employment Insurance and Canadian Pension Plancontributions, and "hidden" taxes such as import duties, excise taxes ontobacco and alcohol, amusement taxes, and gas taxes. "As Canadians grapple with the stress and anxiety of completing theirincome tax returns, any discussion of taxes naturally tends to focus on incometaxes. But personal income taxes account for only 32 per cent of the totaltaxes the average Canadian family paid in 2006," Veldhuis added.

The Canadian Consumer Tax Index attempts to answer the question: How hasthe tax burden of the average family changed since 1961? The study found the increase in the total tax bill means the averagefamily now pays more money to various levels of government for taxes than itspends on food, clothing and housing combined. In 1961, the average family had to spend 56.5 per cent of their cashincome to obtain food, clothing and housing. In the same year, 33.5 per centof the family's income went to governments as tax. By 1981, the situation had been reversed; governments took 40.8 per centof the income in the form of taxes, while the family used 40.5 per cent to buyfood, clothing and housing. By 2006, the average family was giving 44.9 per cent of its income togovernments for taxes while using 35.6 per cent of its income to buy thenecessities of life - food, clothing and housing. Since 1961, the total tax bill for the average Canadian family hasincreased 1,590 per cent. By comparison, the cost of housing has increased1,019 per cent, the cost of food 487 per cent and the cost of clothing hasincreased 447 per cent since 1961. "Over the past 45 years, taxes have become the single largest expenditurein an average Canadian family's budget with the total tax bill for a typicalfamily increasing by 1,590 per cent since 1961," Veldhuis said.

"I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity."
- Gilda Radner

Before our white brothers arrived to make us civilized men, we didn’t have any kind of prison. Because of this, we had no delinquents. Without a prison, there can be no delinquents. We had no locks nor keys and therefore among us there were no thieves. When someone was so poor that he couldn’t afford a horse, a tent or a blanket, he would, in that case, receive it all as a gift. We were too uncivilized to give great importance to private property. We didn’t know any kind of money and consequently, the value of a human being was not determined by his wealth. We had no written laws laid down, no lawyers, no politicians, therefore we were not able to cheat and swindle one another. We were really in bad shape before the white man arrived and I don’t know how to explain how we were able to manage without these fundamental things that (so they tell us) are so necessary for a civilized society.

John (Fire) Lame Deer, Sioux Lakota, 1903-1976

"To begin to think with purpose is to enter the ranks of those strong ones who only recognize failure as one of the pathways to attainment."
- James Allen

"The trouble with most of us is that we would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism."
- Norman Vincent Peale

"it is best to learn as we go, not go as we have learned."
- Leslie Jeanne Sahler

"I hope I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an "Honest Man."
- George Washington

“If you realized how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think a negative thought.”